TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Seismic Waves: How Earthquakes Move the Earth
Students learn about the types of seismic waves produced by earthquakes and how they move the Earth. The dangers of earthquakes are presented as well as the necessity for engineers to design structures for earthquake-prone areas that are...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cutting Through Soil
Students pretend they are agricultural engineers during the colonial period and design a miniature plow that cuts through a "field" of soil. They are introduced to the engineering design process and learn of several famous historical...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Projectile Motion
Students are introduced to the concept of projectile motion, of which they are often familiar from life experiences,such as playing sports such as basketball or baseball, even though they may not understand the physics involved. Students...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Save the Stuffed Animal! Push & Pull
Students develop an understanding of the concepts of "push" and "pull" as they "save" stuffed animals from danger using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robots. After learning more about the concepts through a robot demonstration, students explore...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Spring Away!
This lab demonstrates Hooke's Law with the use of springs and masses. Students attempt to determine the proportionality constant, or k-value, for a spring. They do this by calculating the change in length of the spring as different...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Natural Frequency and Buildings
Students learn about frequency and period, particularly natural frequency using springs. They learn that the natural frequency of a system depends on two things: the stiffness and mass of the system. Students see how the natural...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Bridges
Through a five-lesson series that includes numerous hands-on activities, students are introduced to the importance and pervasiveness of bridges for connecting people to resources, places and other people, with references to many...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Let's Make Silly Putty
Students make two different formulations of imitation Silly Putty with varying degrees of cross-linking. They witness how changes in the degree of cross-linking influence the putty properties.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Light Plants and Dark Plants, Wet Plants and Dry Ones
Students plant sunflower seeds in plastic cups, and once germinated, these are exposed to different conditions of light levels and/or soil moisture contents. During exposure of the plants to these different conditions, students measure...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Construct and Test Roofs for Different Climates
We design and create objects to make our lives easier and more comfortable. The houses in which we live are an excellent example of this. Depending on your local climate, the features of your house will be different to satisfy your...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: All Caught Up: Bycatching and Design
Bycatch, the unintended capture of animals in commercial fishing gear, is one of the hottest topics in marine conservation today. About 25% of the entire global catch is bycatch. This surprisingly high level of bycatch is responsible for...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Swim to and From the Sea!
Learners are introduced to the basic biology behind Pacific salmon migration and the many engineered Columbia River dam structures that aid in their passage through the river's hydroelectric dams. Students apply what they learn about the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What Color Is Your Air Today?
Students develop awareness and understanding of the daily air quality using the Air Quality Index (AQI) listed in the newspaper. They explore what engineers can do to help reduce poor air quality.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Environmental History Timeline
Students develop critical thinking skills by interviewing a person who has perspective on environmental history. Students explore the concept of a timeline, including historical milestones, and develop a sense of the context of events.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Good News We're on the Rise!
Students build and observe a simple aneroid barometer to learn about changes in barometric pressure and weather forecasting.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Dangerous Air
By tracing the movement of radiation released during an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, students see how air pollution, like particulate matter, can become a global issue.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: How Predictable!
Students follow weather forecasts to gauge their accuracy and produce a weather report for the class. They develop skills of observation, recording and reporting.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: It's Really Heating Up in Here!
Students create and observe a greenhouse effect model and discuss the implications of global warming theory for engineers, themselves and the Earth.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pollution Politics
Students learn how a bill becomes law in the U.S. Congress and research legislation related to global warming.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Smoke and Mirrors
Students develop a persuasive peer-to-peer case against smoking, with the goal to understand how language usage can influence perception, attitudes and behavior.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Cleaning Air With Balloons
Students observe and discuss a simple balloon model of an electrostatic precipitator to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: A Merry Go Round for Dirty Air
Students observe and discuss a cup and pencil model of a cyclone to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Let's Bag It
Students observe and discuss a vacuum cleaner model of a baghouse to better understand how this pollutant recovery method functions in cleaning industrial air pollution.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What's a Kid to Do?
Students write letters as part of an environmental action campaign. They become more aware of global environmental problems and play a part in their solution.